Cape Fear Amateur Society News June 2021

Volume LI Issue 6 CFARS Officers 2 Repeaters 2 Minutes 3 CFARS Nets 4 CFARS VE Testing 4 Upcoming 4 Contest Corner 6 Reflections...Past to Present 7 CFARS Swapfest 8

The President’s Corner: Ron K4FET Bang! Another one bites the dust, and it was a fast month, for the most part with everything focusing on the upcoming Field Day, which encompasses parts of the 25th, 26th and the 27th of June.

Looking forward to seeing the same familiar faces there setting up, operating, and tearing down. It would also be great to see some of the newer members of the club join in on the festivities. That would be a win win all the way around, with the newer members reaping the benefits of hours of experience and airtime with Elmers literally at their fingertips for guidance. Many maintain that working through a Field Day is equivalent to months of working alone in your own shack.

George, KM40DS, is working at expanding the scope of our operations hopefully by incorporating a several new bands and modes to enhance the potential of helping to increase the overall club scores.

By the time this is published CFARS will have hosted another VE testing session. I wish everybody luck on your tests, and look forward to welcoming, the newly qualified members into the folds of the CFARS family. By all means, take advantage of the CFARS policy of offering a free membership to all personnel passing the VE testing free membership in CFARS for the first year. Try it, you’ll like it!

Again, for the last month I have had several distractions that in some cases pre-empted things I would have preferred to be doing for the club. The major distraction I have had was assisting the family of my best friend through his last two weeks, and then the ensuing labyrinth of paperwork that goes with the passing of a veteran. We are well on the way to finishing the bulk of the red tape. I don’t want to recall how many times I have done this in the last four years. My circle of older friends has dubbed me “The Grim Reaper”, not the title I would have preferred, but…

The other distraction in my life was totally self-imposed, the Antenna from Hell. Do not get me wrong, I am sure I am going to love it once it is up. I have had no major issues with it, it is just a lot of laborious painstaking work going into each piece of it. I did not have a clue about what I was really getting into. The bottom line is the end is in sight, and I totally enjoyed the work on it.

As far as the club goes, rest assured, there are no more major projects in my foreseeable future for me to get sidetracked on. ( I don’t have room for another tower.)

I reluctantly want to regress to an ongoing issue that is relative to all of our Coordinator’s presence at the Monthly meetings. You, the Coordinator, are in the best position to answer any questions in your respective area. Second or third hand opinions may not be factual and could be misleading.

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CFARS Officers CFARS Officers Club Repeaters President ………… Ron K4FET [email protected] (PL 100 Hz) President ………… Leighton, KN4ZZ, [email protected] Vice Pres…………. Dale AK4YS [email protected] K4MN Vice Pres………….William, KD4DCR, [email protected] 2 m 146.910/146.310 Sec./Treas….……. Chuck KJ4RV [email protected] 70 cm 444.400/449.400 Sec./Treas….……. Chuck, KJ4RV, [email protected] Recorder……....….Bill KJ4OFD [email protected] Recorder…………. Jerry, KA4ULH, [email protected] K4MN Newsletter Editor…Mike KN4XP [email protected] 6 m 53.810/52.810

WA4FLR Coordinators 2 m 147.330/147.930 Coordinators Editor……………..Mike, K0RRP, [email protected] Club Membership Membership………David KI4W [email protected] Membership………David, KR4OE, [email protected] Dues

Net Manager……...Chuck KJ4RV [email protected] Net Manager……...Chuck, KJ4RV, [email protected] CFARS club membership dues are due and payable Emergency ………. David KN4USW [email protected] in January each year. CFARS does offer you the Advertising………. Van, N4ERM, [email protected] ARRL Coordinator..Irv K3IRV [email protected] option to pay your dues no later than March. Yearly Emergency Coord...Larry, KI4DQF, [email protected] dues are $15.00. CFARS offers a lifetime Repeaters………….Mike K4JWX [email protected] membership option for $150.00. If your dues are not paid by March you will not be a voting member of SkyInformation……….Kelly, Warn………....John KF4JDR N4EWG, [email protected] [email protected] the club. The right to vote on issues for the club FieldRepeaters………….Bill, Day………….George KU4W, KM4ODS [email protected] [email protected] comes with club membership. PO Box 36106, Fayetteville, NC 28303 HealthSky Warn………….Jim, & Welfare... Carl K4CFBKI4YRH, [email protected] [email protected]

FieldVEC.. Day………….Leon, …………….Pat N4UGH N2OYV, [email protected] [email protected]

HealthSwapfest & ……..…..DavidWelfare... Mya, [email protected] KI4W [email protected]

Public Info..Marty W4MLW423-2118 [email protected] (h); 678-2488(w)

ContestVEC Coordinator…Pat, Coord…....GeorgeKM4ODS N4UGH, [email protected] [email protected]

SwapfestWebmaster……….Steve Coord…..David, KI4EZL KR4OE, [email protected] [email protected]

The Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society News is the official newsletter of the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society. It is published monthly as a PDF. The newsletter is emailed monthly when the latest version is available. Please provide your email address to the Newsletter Editor. The CFARS News welcomes articles and other contributions. Please email submissions to the newsletter to [email protected]. The Editor reserves the right to edit any and all pieces. The submission deadline for each month’s News is the last Friday of the preceding month. The views expressed in the CFARS News are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor CFARS Club Patches are available for purchase. or CFARS. Chuck KJ4RV for your patch today!

CFARS News Page 2 Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society News June 2021

May 2021 Club Meeting Minutes

The May Monthly Meeting of the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society was held at Peace Presbyterian Church at 3203 Ramsey Street, Fayetteville, NC on Monday evening, May 17, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

President Ron K4FET opened the meeting and welcomed all for coming, and led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our county. Paul K4PGM gave the invocation. Ron K4FET led the introductions in the usual CFARS fashion. We had 35 members and guests in attendance.

The minutes of the last meeting were published on www.cfarsnc.org Paul K4PGM and Ed N4ESA moved the minutes be accepted as published and the motion carried.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Treasurer: Chuck KJ4RVV gave the Treasurer’s Report. We started with money in the bank, we earned some money, we spent more money than we earned, and we still have money in the bank – we are solvent.

Net Manager: Chuck KJ4RV gave the Net Manager report: March check-ins 911 / 29 April check-ins 814 / 29 March traffic 31 April traffic 29 March net time 1233 / 40 April net time 1164 / 42

Health & Welfare: Carl K4CFB reported no known instances of sick, lame, or lazy. If you know of anyone needing a card or a call, call.

Repeater: Mike K4JWX reported all the repeaters are alive and well, 6 meter is still a work in progress.

Membership: David KI4W stated that the club roster has been purged, get your dues in and get back on the list. David KI4W introduced Jason KO4OXG, Logan KO4HRE, and Barry KF4IKS as new members of the club, invited them to the front and they introduced themselves to the assembled multitude. Marty W4MLW and Fred N4ZCG moved they be accepted as members and the motion carried. Welcome to the club.

Field Day: George KM4ODS reported regarding Field Day: the club desires to hold the Field Day in person, tentative location will be at Methodist University. Dates will be June 26/27. Plan on spending a little time operating and let George know when you would like to operate/log. The following have been voulentold for the various positions/stations John KF4JDR GOTA, Chuck KJ4RV CW, George KM4ODS SSB. Others taking part: Bill KJ4OFD/Joe W3OJO Message Traffic, Chuck KJ4RV Solar Power station, Van KG6HYJ Electrical and Satellite, Van N4ERM will Educate

Swapfest: David KI4W reminded all of the upcoming SwapFest in August (August 14) at the Cumberland County Shrine Club (7040 Ramsey Street, Fayetteville, NC). The Swapfest has been published, if you need a table, give David a call to reserve one. Get your stuff ready to put out and fill your pockets with money to purchase new(to you) items for your shack.

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CFARS Reoccurring Nets President’s Message

Time Band / (Continued from Page 1) Net Day (s) Local Fre- quency I mentioned several Newsletters ago that if you were unable to make the meeting to just shoot Evening Daily 1900 146.910 me an email to bring me up do date in your Net Repeater area. Unfortunately, in numerous cases even Possum M-F 0500- 146.910 this has not been done. I fully realize our pay Trot 0700 Repeater scale. But as volunteers we should expect to do what is required of our position. No one is ADY M-F 0810 SSB forced to fill any of the coordinator’s positions. Net 3.852 CW Fix Tues/ 0730 CW 73’s for now. Hope to see you at Field Day! Net Thurs 3.555 PTN Tues 2000 CW 10-10 28.150 PTN Wed 2000 SSB 10-10 28.345 DMR Sunday 2000 TGIF 910 Net Talk- group Upcoming Hamfests

July 24 WCARS CFARS VE Testing Waynesville, NC

The CFARS VE team will offer VE Testing in 2021. August 14 Testing will be held at the following location: CFARS Swapfest Fayetteville, NC Cumberland County Shrine Club cfarsnc.org 7040 Ramsey Street (US Hwy 401 N)

Fayetteville, NC 28311-9322 September 3 Testing Dates Shelby Hamfest August 14th Shelby, NC October 9th shelbyhamfest.org

Please note that if anyone wants to test, they October 16 will need to get a FRN number first. W4NC Fallfest REMINDER: Exam Candidates are Winston-Salem, NC REQUIRED to register in the FCC CORES w4nc.com system and receive a Federal Registration Number (FRN) before exam day. Direct candidates to the FCC CORES User Account and Registration page: https://apps.fcc.gov/ cores/user

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Emergency Coordinator: Mike K4JWX has stepped down as Emergency Coordinator. David KN4USW has been appointed as the new Emergency Coordinator.

Public Relations: Marty W4MLW our Public Relations guru has sent notices and invitations to our elected officials . Police and Fire departments to participate in our festivities.

VE Testing: Pat N4UGH was not present. VE Testing will be done during Field Day.

Advertising: Marty W4MLW is looking at the Spectrum Community Calendar for ad space for the club.

Newsletter: Mike KN4XP is doing fine business with the newsletter, bear a hand and send him material to include in the newsletter.

Website: Steve KI4EZL is doing an outstanding job as webmaster, send him material to include in the website.

Possum Trot Net: Ron K4FET reported the Possum Trot Net is alive and well, and doing 50+ish check-ins daily and thanked his net controllers for their assistance. Paul K4PGM reported on the DMR nets, and George KM4ODS reported on the 10-10 nets.

Contesting: No report.

ARRL: No report.

Old Business: None.

New Business: None.

Program: Dale AK4YS presented a brief on Learning and gave a list of sites for more information.

Announcements: Marty W4MLW reminded all that the Shelby Hamfest is a go on Labor Day Weekend, and will not be able to attend and asked anyone who could to take the CFARS materials to Shelby and sell the material.

Door Prize Drawing: Marty W4MLW held the door prize drawings. 30' roll of LMR400 coax with connectors donated by Mitch KN4ONH to Jason KO4OXF. 30' roll of LMR400 coax w/o connectors donated by Mitch KN4ONH to Bob WA4WHV. Box of SolderSeal wire connectors donated by Marty W4MLW to Carl K4CFB. Baofeng UV5R dual band radio donated by CFARS to Logan KO4HRE. Main Trading Co T-shirt to Will KN4OTA. AGM batteries donated by Don KD4QMS to Jason KO4OXG. Book donated by Van N4ERM to Mitch KN4ONH. Flag Bag donated by Van N4ERM to Don KO4INQ. Plants donated by Larry N4USB to Mike K4JWX, William KF4QFI, John KF4JDF Carl K4CFB. Computer System (CPU/monitor/dot-matrix printer) donated by Larry N4ERM to Jason KO4OXF.

There being no further business for the club Fred N4ZCG and Jim KI4YRH moved to close and Ron K4FET adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m.

There were thirty-five (35) members in attendance for the meeting.

Submitted: Bill KJ4OFD CFARS Recorder

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Contest Corner George KM4ODS So what in blazes is “Field Day”? Some of you are key contributors to the club’s annual field event. Most Club members know what it is but have chosen not to participate. Others, maybe haven’t ever attended one or don’t even have a clue as to what it is really all about. Well, in short, the annual ARRL Field Day event combines emergency in the field setup of communications equipment with heavy duty and a lot of FUN! The idea is to create an exercise that gets amateurs to take their grab-n-go kits, antennas, generators, rigs, camping equipment, etc., to either local or remote locations for worldwide operations. Some people do field day in their own homes or backyards, some go to local parks or EOC facilities and others head for remote areas in the mountains. This year the CFARS is able to return to our traditional site at Methodist University.

There are plenty of assignments to go around, so come on get off your soft sofa and volunteer to help out. If you don’t plan hanging out or being on site the entire time, we can still use lots of people to help on any of the days, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Type of help needed includes: transportation of equipment, setup, operating and take-down. CFARS will operate three stations: CW, SSB and GOTA (SSB). We look forward to your participation. This is one of the most fun summer activities that we look forward to each year. So, lock-in your calendar for the date of June 25th – 27th, 2021. Please contact George Davenport with any questions or the willingness to volunteer. [email protected]

Other POCS: CW Station/Operations - Chuck KJ4RV ([email protected]) SSB Station/Operations - George KM4ODS ([email protected]) GOTA Station/Operations - John KF4JDR ([email protected])

The Software the Club will be using for this event is N3FJP. For information on this software please check out their website at https://www.n3fjp.com/fieldday.html It helps to be somewhat familiar with the program.

As with any Radio Event there are some rules that you will need to know to participate in this event. To find the Rules and a lot more information please check out the ARRL website at http:// www.arrl.org/field-day

Tentative schedule for this year:

Friday – June 25th — Time TBA -Start antenna projects -Setup tower with beam

Saturday – June 26th — 7:00 am – 2:00pm – -Finish final preparations -Test Power Source -Logging Computers on-line and ready -Final Calibration of antennas all stations -Final Coordination of operating schedules -2:00 PM – Start Contesting

Sunday – June 27th — -Contesting Continues -2:00 – Contest ends. Cleanup – Take down/pack up equipment

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!! CFARS News Page 6 Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society News June 2021

Reflections...Past to Present Dom NC4XL As I sit here and look back from January 1978 to the present as a Amateur Radio Or Ham Operator. How so many things have changed from the Basics of learning the International language of Morse code. Being able to transmit Five Words Per Minute and receive Five Words Per Minute CODE CW along with your Theory in Radio and Electrical Principals. And then move up the ladder to your General class with 13 Words Per Minute SEND and RECEIVE.

Over the years additional classes of license and changes in the types of the licensing structure has allowed more people to join the ranks of becoming a . Thumb Dials And Receive And Transmit Crystals were used one out 2Meter . Along with the changes in some of the methods of communicating on a back in the years when I first started. We built our own Radio Equipment from KITS and we tuned and learned how to tune our equipment. Now in today's market is mostly plug-and-play. If something's broke you don't repair it because it cost too much. You just pull out a part put in a new part and you're done. There's not much electronic Theory there but again times have changed.

Now to the fun part of this conversation. There is such a multitude of things that you can do and I'll share just SOME of them and of course the list is ENDLESS. But you can Work All States. You can Work All States on One band Or Several bands. You can Work All States with being QRP meaning of low-power not 100w. You can Work All States with YL's. You can Work All States with Prefixes and all we've talked about so far is Working All States. Then the other facet is today you can do it digitally PSK there's DMR radios there is FT8 FT4 there's just so much more and many ways to have fun in the ham radio family.

One way is helping one another grow in the Hobby by being a Mentor. Or from the erecting of fixed station Antennas Towers At Homes Or Feild Day Events. To Towers to the designing and building of a J-Pole or a little SO239 Quarter Wave Dipole or Hanging Antenna. Learning how to adjust an Antenna with an Analyzer. By using sound to adjust a coil on a Vertical Antenna. By listening for the best signal that is just a earshot. But that's how we used to do it.

Welcome to Ham Radio. You'll be able to talk around the world from sitting in your car or sitting on your front porch. You can run it with low power one Watt. To 100 Watts or More. It's unbelievable what you can do.

If you grew up in the days of CB radio. 4 Watts was a maximum a radio should be able to put out and back then we always found somebody who could tweak it up to 10 watts. A properly tuned radio and proper propagation on vans and you don't need a hundred watts to get where you want to go.

Some of us are now working POTA. Parks On The Air. We take our radios and go portable. Where the Radio runs off of battery. Where they put everything in a backpack that included the Antenna, power supply the CW straight key or Keyed, the notepad, the iPad for logging, the pencil and paper are all the little things that they take with them to go and make a contact.

You can do Counties. That's working Somone in all the counties in the . That's equal about 3077 counties in the United States. It's endless there's DXCC. That's talking across the pond and the multitude of bands to give you places to make these contacts. You really never can exhaust the HAM RADIO FIELD.

There's Something For Everyone. Bottom line is you can experience it whether you're a new ham or whether you're a seasoned ham such as myself have over 40 years of enjoying,

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